Cups!
by x-backtoblack-x
Summary: Chloe hears the soft melody from across the quad and can't help but investigate, leading to a rather interesting evening. Really this is just fluff.


_You're gonna miss me when I'm gone.  
I've got my ticket for long way 'round  
Two bottles of whiskey for the way  
And I sure would like some sweet company  
and I'm leaving tomorrow, whatdya say?_

Chloe wasn't sure if it as the previous three hours she'd spent studying in the campus library, or perhaps the amount of sugary snacks she'd consumed in that space of time – though logically it was probably a lethal combination of both – but when her brain registered the song lyrics that were floating through the mid-evening breeze towards her it took her a lot longer than it should have to realize that it wasn't just in her head, and that there was in fact someone singing nearby.

She knew that song. She was sure she'd heard it before, though the lack of back-up music of any sort made it difficult to distinguish, the lyrics still being a little too far off for her to hear clearly. She'd always been a naturally curious person though, and it didn't take Chloe long to allow herself a short detour across the grassy patch, trying to remain casual so as not to scare off the singer, whoever it was.

As she approached the lyrics became clear, and although she still couldn't see the singer she knew now who it was. It had to be the Beca girl from auditions earlier that day, Chloe having never heard that song sung before her impromptu performance with the plastic cup. In spite of her better judgement Chloe, ever unaware boundaries, began to sing along:

_When I'm gone, when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me by my hair  
You're gonna miss me everywhere  
Oh I know you're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

Chloe's voice rang out through the night, and it wasn't until she was finished the verse she realized that somewhere along the way she'd begun singing on her own.

"Hello?" A small, and for obvious reasons, frightened voice called out into the night, causing Chloe to smirk as she approached where the sound was coming from. "I'm armed." The voice called again, just as Chloe was about to round the corner towards where it was coming from.

"Well then please don't attack." The red head laughed, almost walking into an extremely frightened Beca Mitchell who was almost invisible as she stood as close to the tall bushes as she could and was very, very unarmed, contrary to what she was saying. "Or you know, do attack. I've always wondered what it's like to get stabbed with an imaginary knife." She teased then.

"It's imaginary pepper spray actually… not so fun." The shorter girl shot back, not missing a beat even though she was obviously still confused. "Is it just your thing to ambush me while I'm singing now then?" She added, her shoulders dropping a little as she relaxed now that she was out of immediate danger.

"Well with a voice like yours can you really blame me?" Chloe teased in return, the friendly flirting coming as naturally to her as breathing.

"You're so embarrassing." Beca muttered gruffly, and Chloe knew instantly that if the lighting around them was better than a few faded street lights she'd see the outline of a blush on the other girls face.

"Just count your lucky stars we're not both naked this time as well." Chloe laughed easily.

"Oh my god not so loud! Someone will hear you say that." Beca hissed, eyes darting around the deserted area as she was obviously mortified.

"I'll just tell them we were having shower sex… they'll get it." Chloe informed her with a casual shrug, fighting back the smirk that was itching to get expressed, knowing that this flirting was totally new to the brunette.

"Dude!" Beca all but shouted, and it took everything in Chloe's being not to laugh this time as she was sure she'd just pushed the younger girl over the edge into full blown discomfort.

"Unless..." Chloe proposed triumphantly, glad she'd found a way of bullying Beca into doing something without them both having to be naked. "You take me back to your dorm and teach me how you done that thing with the cup." She told her seriously.

"Really? That's what you want?" Beca smirked, a little of her sass coming back to her when she realized she could do something the mysterious red head with the startlingly hypnotising eyes couldn't.

"Really. It's been bugging me since your audition today." She informed her. "So you need to show me so we can have a double act." She nodded matter of factly.

"Wow you just made that sound a trillion times more appealing." Beca retorted; voice laced with sarcasm in a way Chloe found oddly attractive.

"I know deep down that's a yes." Chloe pushed her softly, being daring enough to even take a step closer just to make sure Beca would see her quirk her eyebrow.

"If I teach you does it mean you'll stop ambushing me like this?" Beca queried, not wanting to actually admit that she was uncharacteristically eager for the red head to come over. "I mean as much as I love the feeling of my heart falling out my ass in fear I'm just not sure when the right time is to blow my rape whistle…" She confessed mockingly.

"I make no promises… though maybe we can also develop some kind of bird call so you never get too scared." Chloe told her thoughtfully.

"You really are beyond the pale." Beca laughed then in spite of herself, shaking her head in disbelief at the red head, finding something infectious about her entire nature. "Just come on before I change my mind." She added, leading the way back to her hopefully Asian free room.

It was Asian free, thank god. Asian free and therefore a room free from noise restrictions and cold hard glares, allowing Beca to grab the empty cup she'd had coke in earlier and place it upside down on the floor, sitting cross legged beside it and indicating for Chloe to do the same.

"I feel like I'm being let into a super-secret society or something." Chloe stage whispered, causing Beca to roll her eyes and emit a snort of laughter.

"You get cooler and cooler, you know that." Beca chuckled, feeling oddly unconcerned about the red heads proximity to her; the pair only being inches apart and separated merely by a plastic cup.

"Oh you've seen nothing yet." Chloe winked mischievously, finding it difficult to stop herself from flirting; unable to deny that Beca was a rather attractive person in spite of the heavy eyeliner she hid behind.

"I don't know about that… I'm pretty sure I've seen everything there is to see." Beca quipped immediately, the flirtatious reference to their unexpected shared shower not being something she'd fully intended to say and this instantly made her self-conscious. "Uh anyway… cups." She announced; steering the conversation back on track before Chloe had time to fathom any sort of retort.

"Cups." Chloe repeated with a smile, finding it cute how easily the shorter woman had become flustered when she'd realized what she'd said. "Teach me how to play the illusive cups oh wise one." She added, bowing her head in worship of Beca's talent.

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere." Beca chastised, rolling her eyes at the other woman's antics, trying her best to prevent her customary half smirk to morph into a full grin.

"I dunno; you seem to have done pretty well so far." Chloe remarked with a soft chuckle.

"Touché." Beca conceded, trying to look mad but failing miserably as her façade began to crack and a smile poked out through it. "Now please let me teach you… it's pretty weird having my stalker in my room." She added, not actually meaning it when she implied that she wanted the red head to go – which was beyond odd for her, especially when she had so many mixes to finish off – but not feeling the need to vocalise that at this exact moment.

"You say that, but it gives you a thrill really… never knowing if I'll kill you or beg you to marry me next." She fired back, momentarily feigning a crazed look, though she quickly broke down into giggles when Beca's eyes widened at her statement.

"Come to college they said, it'll be fun they said." Beca muttered loudly, shaking her head at Chloe's behaviour, trying to deny to herself that she found it in any way cute.

"Who's they?" Chloe questioned instantly, not really sure how this lesson in cup playing had gone down this route all of a sudden, but finding she really didn't mind as she found herself genuinely enjoying Beca's company and wanting to know more about what lay behind the alt-girl façade.

"My dad." Beca let slip, eyes bulging when she realized that she was actually just after opening up to someone – well kind of anyway – and without even hesitating about it. "I mean… well yea, my dad. He uh… he didn't think my DJ'ing was a valid career option and since him and mom split he's… he's been trying to get more involved and stuff so uh… yea he made me go to college and stuff." She continued awkwardly, not wanting to tell the red head only half a story, yet also not really being in the right mind-set to have Chloe play her psychiatrist for the evening.

"Hey it's cool. We don't have to talk about it." Chloe reassured her quickly as she watched Beca rub the back of her neck awkwardly; obviously uncomfortable with what was going on. "We can leave prying for some other time." She added to lighten the mood enough to get Beca to reward her with a smile.

"It's cool… it's just a… it's still kind of a weird subject for me." Beca confessed, again being unsure of where all this honesty was coming from – though it was probably something to do with Chloe's eyes. "Though what makes you so sure there'll be another time?" She asked then with a quirked brow, her sass returning somewhat as the topic of conversation changed.

"Well because I don't really want to learn the cups anymore tonight." Chloe replied with a simple shrug of her shoulders and a happy smile.

"What?!" Beca cried, throwing her arms in the air and gaping at the red head.

"Mhm… it's getting pretty late, so you're going to teach me how to do it on our second date instead." Chloe informed her matter of factly as she rose gracefully off the floor, not hesitating to pull Beca up with her.

"Excuse me?" Beca spluttered, jaw going slack. "Date?!" She squeaked, suddenly becoming very aware of herself.

"Well I asked you out, you said yes, we had a fun evening, we bonded… all that's missing is a polite but promising kiss goodnight." Chloe nodded, listing off all key elements on her fingers for emphasise.

"What happened was you ambushed me, forced me to teach you the cups, teased me all evening, and somehow managed to get me to open up to you." Beca retorted, also listing off her version of events on her fingers.

"Are you trying to tell me you're not into me?" Chloe challenged, praying her hunch about the way Beca had been looking at her all evening wouldn't be too far off the mark.

"I…" Beca paused, thinking over the events of the evening – and the last few days since the shower incident for that matter.

It was true she'd had a hard time maintaining eye contact with Chloe that day in the shower, though she'd presumed it was just natural curiosity on her part seeing as she'd never actually seen that much of a girl before. She'd never really been one to label herself either, and had never really tied herself down to one sex in the past, though in saying that she'd never really seen a girl worth breaking away from men for before. She was fairly confident Chloe was though, with her auburn hair, dazzling eyes and killer smile being only a fraction of her overall beauty in Beca's opinion, not to mention her personality in general, which Beca found herself oddly drawn towards in spite of the fact she barely knew her and Chloe's shining optimism was something she'd usually try and avoid.

"You…?" Chloe pushed lightly, almost being able to see the clogs turn in Beca's head as the young woman considered her feelings.

"I think next time we should see a movie or something before I teach you." Beca concluded finally, suddenly shy as she smiled timidly at Chloe and shrugged in embarrassment.

"I think that sounds like a date." Chloe beamed, barely being able to contain her enthusiasm. "Tomorrow at eight?" She questioned happily.

"Sounds good to me… just try not to ambush me this time." Beca laughed, her stomach doing gleeful summersaults thanks to Chloe's enthusiasm.

"Like I said before… I make no promises." Chloe reminded her with a smirk. "I'll see you tomorrow Beca." She added then, turning to head for the door.

"Hey! Wait." Beca called suddenly; just as Chloe's hand brushed the doorknob. "I do believe there's one final element before we can call this our first date." The younger woman prompted, coming to stand right behind the red head, choosing not to overanalyse where her surge of confidence was coming from.

"Well I guess if it makes it official we have to." Chloe sighed dramatically as she turned, smiling when she found Beca's face mere inches form her own.

It was sweet and polite and promising and even passionate all rolled into one quick fusing of their lips, Beca's hands coming to rest gently against the dip of Chloe's waist as the older girl let her hands run softly through the DJ's hair, remaining in that position for several moments before air became somewhat of an issue.

"Kay, now we've had an official first date." Chloe confirmed as they let their foreheads bump together softly.

"Do we get a certificate now or something?" Beca questioned sarcastically, laughing as Chloe whacked her arm playfully. "If that means no then I'm so in this for the wrong reason." Beca teased, causing Chloe to glare playfully.

"Just watch it or you may be stood up." Chloe threatened as she pulled reluctantly away.

"You wouldn't dare. You'll never learn the cups otherwise." Beca shot back, with a threatening smile.

"Youtube is there for a reason." Chloe reminded her. "Though I suppose just this once I'll go against my better judgement and see you tomorrow." She added with a soft smile.

"Yea see you then." Beca nodded, grinning in spite of herself as the girl left her room without another word, wondering once she left what the hell had just gone on.


End file.
